Claire has gone from being a relatively passive character to being the one calling the shots. What has this journey been like?

In Season 2 she goes on another incredible arc – it’s a rollercoaster of a season for her. As an actress it’s been exciting to play such an in-depth character, so I’m very happy with it. I’ve been able to explore a youthful, vulnerable side, and also she’s turned into a strong, articulated, women… she’s always been educated, but you get to see her using her educated tools more this season. And she’s nobody’s pushover this season – last season she was more innocent, and she understood that there were a lot of grey areas in the world, but she didn’t understand how much grey area was in the world. She looked at things in a very black and white way, and now she realises that there’s a lot more grey than she once thought.

What would you say the main turning point for Claire was in becoming the person she is now?

The matricide was quite a big deal: finding out that her father had been lying to her all these years about who her mother was, and the fact that she was inhabited by an 8-ball was a huge deal. Becoming pregnant with her lover’s child and him leaving her, and also finding out that the love of her life is the Chosen One, the one she’s been worshipping her whole life, so her spiritual journey was huge in the first season, because she went from feeling like there was hope and goodness in the world to finding out that the hope and goodness was her boyfriend, and that he didn’t know what he was doing, and she became a part of that: pushing him towards what she feels he should be in.

What kind of place is Claire in when Season 2 begins?

You see Claire as the ruler of Vega – she’s very much settled in her position and making decisions from the get go. You see a huge decision being made, and it’s shocking.

Season 2 of Dominion will have even more surprises in store for Claire

Which new characters do you think will catch people’s eyes?

Christina Chong, who plays Zoe, is going to be integral to Claire’s arc this season. She’s a fantastic actress, and her character’s very interesting, I think the audience are really going to warm to her. They won’t necessarily think the character’s good – she’s flawed like any being is – but she’s interesting to watch and a fantastic actress. There’s also Julian, played by Simon Merrells. The audience are going to fall in love with him. He is an astounding actor, and his character is deeply flawed, but incredibly interesting. And there’s Olivia Mace as well, she’s another strong woman in the show, which is great – we’re flying the flag for strong women everywhere!

Are you surprised by the level of success the show has received

I was always quite confident about the show. You always hope that people will be entertained, fall in love with the characters and enjoy the show, and you don’t think too much beyond that when you’re working. Then afterwards when it’s released, you start to get feedback, you start to think/hope for the next season. I felt confident, but maybe that’s because I’m an optimistic person, and I just had so fun and wanted to go back for a second season!

What kind of feedback do you get from fans?

I think they like how strong she is. They like the fact that she’s an incredibly multi-faceted character. She’s the one character that you really understand where she’s coming from from the beginning. You’ve seen her innocence, and seen her grow. Into Season Two that growth continues, and so much has happened to her, so the audience love the fact that she’s strong, educated, using her brain. She’s working in a very male-dominated society – arena if you like, in Vega – but she’s holding her own, and she’s young! I think that’s appealing to the audience. She’s bad-ass, she’s great!

McKee was always confident that Dominion would be a hit

How much of Claire’s journey was outlined from the beginning?

Vaun [Wilmott, creator] told me from the beginning. He was very communicative with us, we really had an in-depth conversation about what would happen with Claire, and for me it was very exciting to go through the individual steps and the individual situations and scenes with different actors. So yes, I was aware of everything!

Looking back at Season One, what would you say your favourite Claire moment was?

I’ve always loved working with Anthony Head. He’s a genius, and I learn a lot from him. And working with Amy Bailey as well – we became very close and so doing the scenes with her was very emotional, we had a great connection, so it was a lot of run. In Season 2, there’s an upcoming scene with Alan Dale that is incredibly emotional, I really enjoyed filming it. It’s very heavy, but it’s incredibly sad. I lost my own dad, so I knew that doing the scene was going to be quite hard for me, but I think I just let myself fall into it. Alan’s just lovely to work with – he’s so much fun, and has a great sense of humour, so we laughed a lot. Before, we did warm-up exercises, and we sang the ‘Tra-lalallaLol’ song. It was ridiculous [laughs].

To summarise, what can we expect from Season 2?

It’s a lot darker and grittier. I think people are going to be very happy with it and shocked by it. There’s a lot more twists from beginning to the end, and ultimately the fans are going to be left reeling, which is great.

Dominion Season 2 is currently airing on Wednesday evenings on Syfy at 9pm. For all the latest news on the biggest TV shows, pick up SciFiNow.